2 36 DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 



a middle-aged woman, tall and straight, with her 

 face above the shoulders of her nearest neighbours, 

 showed a set-purpose mien that told she had a price 

 she meant to get for the huge white pig which tugged 

 in vain at the rope she held. Her prize seemed to 

 attract each dealer as he was about to pass until they 

 all seemed bidding for her pig, and, I think it may be 

 said, its purchase was the real starting of the fair; 

 but I have some suspicion that it was not the pig 

 they coveted so much as the absence of its owner's 

 face, which was up so high that women far and near 

 could see it and feel encoiu^aged to be firm. 



The departure of this giantess and her monster 

 pig brought to view a pretty face overhung with 

 modesty, and, strange to see, the pig she held was 

 modest too, and sat upon his hind quarters while 

 standing upon his fore legs with drooping head be- 

 tween them, as a dog sometimes does when waiting the 

 next move. They both seemed sadly out of place, and 

 jarred so much upon my nerves that it would have 

 reheved me to have held the pig for her until the crack 

 of — well ! her husband's skull for leaving her to 

 a task she was so unfitted for. Offers came to her, and 

 hands were held out to clench the bargainings, but 

 they were declined with 'No, and thank you,' that was 

 easily seen by the movement of her little mouth. For 

 some time this picture was hidden by a pushing woman 

 whose bare feet and legs proclaimed that she had not 

 stayed to pick her way through soft, peaty places to 

 reach the fair. 



Business grew in briskness, and the satisfied depar- 

 tures, amongst which was that of the boggy-legged 

 one, thinned the market-place, and again the young 

 woman and her pig stood out quite boldly, so that 

 I could see her 'No' to offers as plainly as before. The 

 artful buyers presently passed her by, and I began to 

 fear that, like my Aunt Jane in matters matrimonial, 

 she had overstood her market, but I am glad to say 



